Page 8 - MetalForming July 2010

TechUpdate
PVD Coating Triples Tool Life at Auto-Parts Maker
Tier One automotive supplier Exedy America Corp, Mascot, TN, recently testified to the benefits of the low-temperature FortiPhy UltraEndurance chromium-nitride (CrN) coating process to minimize tool distortion while opti- mizing tool life for a cou- ple of unique applications. The coating, patented PVD technology from Phygen Coatings Inc., Minneapolis, MN, has delivered three times the tool life as com- pared to an alternative coating process, while maintaining part tolerances. Exedy America uses transfer presses to pro- duce transmission parts— such as torque convert- ers—for automotive OEMs and aftermarket sellers. It stamps hot- and cold-rolled steel 1-5 mm thick. For proper assembly, parts must maintain their roundness, and accord- ing to the firm’s tool and die director Randy Collinsworth, prior use of thermal-dif-
fusion (TD) coatings had caused problems related to tool distortion.
Giving the Phygen PVD coating a look, Collinsworth first tried the coating on M2 steel tooling used to form 2.3-mm- thick cold-rolled steel into a plate used in torque-converter assemblies. While tooling coated with TiCN endured for 78,000 hits before requiring recoating, the FortiPhy coating tripled tool life.
Collinsworth also describes a recent cost-reduction program that had the firm re-engineer a draw ring to half the size of its predecessor. The ring is designed to be rotated to a new position (three positions in all) as out-of-tolerance wear occurs. Coated with the Phygen For- tiPhy process, the ring has yet to be rotat- ed, and Exedy America officials expect it to run 750,000 parts—250,000 per rotation—before recoating, tripling tool life over the previous ring.
Phygen Coatings, Inc: 888/749-4361;
www.phygen.com
6 METALFORMING / JULY 2010
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